An urgent knocking came at the door to Lucretia’s office. Dihya had just stepped out to fetch some lunch for them both—from Caeso’s stall, of course—so Lucretia went to the front room to answer the door.
Felix’s secretary, Siro, waited outside, hands clasped around a wax tablet. A distraught expression marred his usually reserved countenance. “Forgive me, lady, I didn’t know who else to come to.”
Lucretia let him in, unease swirling in her stomach. “What is it?”
Siro swallowed hard. “It seems Felix has been kidnapped by pirates.” He kept talking, but the words muddled together in Lucretia’s mind.
Pirates. Kidnapped. “Marcus,” she managed in a strangled gasp. “Is my son—”
“He writes that Marcus is safe,” Siro said hastily, holding out the tablet. “I’m not sure exactly what happened, but—”
“Give me that.” Lucretia snatched the wax tablet and read over the few lines inscribed in Felix’s handwriting.Marcus is safe,should be back in Ostia any day now.She read that line three times, burning the words into her mind.
Marcus is safe. The jolt of terror left her body in a rush. She leaned against Dihya’s desk, legs trembling.Marcus is safe.
She let out a shaky breath, handing the tablet back. “If this isn’t about my son, then why have you come?”Marcus may be safe, but Felix…She shrugged off her worry. Felix was no longer her concern.
Siro twisted his fingers together over the tablet. “It’s the ransom they’re demanding. Felix has about half of it in his coffers at home. But the rest…it’s secured at the temple bank. The priests won’t let me touch it. Even after I tried to explain what had happened. I showed them the letter. They wouldn’t relent!” Anxiety tightened his voice.
Lucretia crossed her arms over her chest, affecting nonchalance despite the unease twisting in her stomach at the thought of Felix’s predicament. “So what am I meant to do about it?”
“Well, I thought you might be able to lend the money,” Siro said, meeting her eyes with a beseeching gaze. “Felix would repay it in full immediately upon his release, of course.”
She pressed her lips together. “You must know what has transpired between me and Felix.”
Siro glanced away. “I have pieced together certain details. My employer’s private affairs are not my business, of course.”
Lucretia took a step toward him, abandoning the support of the desk. “I think they were your business at one point. You must have helped him dig into my secrets. Did you investigate my guardian for him?”
Siro rotated the wax tablet in his hands. “I followed my employer’s instructions, lady.”
“So you know he was trying to ruin me. To destroy everything I’ve worked for, to discredit everything I’ve done, purely becauseI happen to be a woman.” She lifted her chin. “And you think I would spend a single denarius for his benefit?”
“Please, lady,” Siro said. “His freedom, perhaps even his life, is at stake!”
“He was willing to gamble my freedom for his own greed,” she snapped. “Perhaps he deserves to feel what it’s like to lose everything.”
“You cannot truly plan to abandon him to such a fate,” Siro insisted. “Whatever he planned to do to you, it did not amount to slavery or death.”
Siro had a point there. Could she live with herself if she condemned him to such a fate? She thought of Marcus. He cared for Felix; he would want her to do what she could to save him.
“How much is the ransom?” The number must have been in the letter, but she’d been so consumed with worry for Marcus that it escaped her.
“Fifteen talents,” Siro replied.
“Fifteen!” she gasped. “Does Felix have that much money?”
Siro nodded. “As I said, split between his home and the temple bank.”
“Fifteen talents,” she repeated in awe. It was a titanic sum. Felix was wealthier than she’d realized.
“He has seven at home. I need eight to fulfill the ransom.”
She let out a short, humorless laugh. “Well, I don’t have eight talents.” No matter if Felix deserved her help or not, she didn’t have the power to save him. The realization should have soothed her; she no longer had to decide if he was worthy of saving. Instead, it sent a strange pang through her, thorny with emotions she couldn’t name.
Siro’s face fell. “I see. I-I suppose I’ll have to think of something else.” He turned to leave, shoulders slumped.
“How long did they give you?” Lucretia asked. “Maybe…maybe I can think of something.” It was only for Marcus’s sake that she would try.
